


Where's Caitlin?

by superwholocked_wizard



Series: Where's Caitlin? [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry Gets Hurt, Caitlin is Killer Frost, F/M, Hurt Barry, Killer Frost!Caitlin, Mentioned Abuse, Temporary Amnesia, barry and patty are lovers, barry breaks bones, barry doesn't remember, barry gets a concussion, barry is in pain, barry is scared, barry x patty, caitlin gets kidnapped, caitlin goes missing, caitlin is gone, caitlin's missing, cisco cries, cisco is a babe, cisco's sad, concussion, dad!joe, dead!caitlin, everyone's scared, he's a cinnamon roll lets be honest, joe is dad joe, like really hurt, mentioned blood, mentioned broken bones, mentioned concussion, missing!caitlin, no barry x iris, patty gets worried, there's pain, they live together, we all love cisco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 06:20:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12293121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superwholocked_wizard/pseuds/superwholocked_wizard
Summary: Where's Caitlin?Barry wakes up in a S.T.A.R. labs hospital bed, alone and hurt, and completely lost. He doesn't remember anything that has happened to him within the last 24 hours, only that literally breathing hurts, and his super healing doesn't seem to be helping in any way.And worse of all, Caitlin Snow is gone.





	Where's Caitlin?

**Author's Note:**

> hullo my lovelies! this is going to be a series first and foremost, and sorry to all you barry x iris fans but no.
> 
> basically, this is gonna go from painful to worse
> 
> have fun reading this, hope you enjoy it, 
> 
> sophie xx

Barry Knew it was bad when he woke up, the physical plain of simply breathing became almost impossibly jarring, every time he inhaled, he felt his ribs, cracked and fractured, rubbing against each other. His head was pounding and wrapped within a cotton bandage, which shielded his eyes from the harsh white lights of S.T.A.R. labs, and his entire body felt as if it were tingling, the nerves going haywire with an overload of information. 

Barry tried to move his foot, only to feel a burning sensation run up his leg and through his entire body, causing him to yelp in surprise, then finding that even yelping hurt, his headache worsening and what he suspected to be a bruise on his jaw throbbing.

Machinery hummed next to his ear, beeping at a steady, rhythmic pace, reassuring him that whilst he hurt a hell of a lot, he wasn’t dead, at least not yet.

The heart monitor began speeding up slightly, his body beginning to respond to the sharp pains stabbing through his chest, and a rising sense of panic made him begin to breath heavier, only making the pain get more and more intense, until he heard a stampede of footsteps coming towards him, and a calming hand on his bicep made him jump out of his skin.

He jerked his arm away only to feel another jolt of pain racked through him again, forcing a strangled scream to come from between clenched teeth, yet again not helping with the headache, he would have thought that he would have taken the hint to stop moving, but alas.

A sharp intake of breath sounded next to him, stuttering as it slid through the teeth, almost as if the person had been crying, a sniff a few moments later confirming his suspicions.

“Hey, um, Barry we,” Cisco, his words breaking and his voice thick with emotion, “The painkillers won’t work, i’m sorry i’m so sorry Barry.”

Barry was silent, opting not to move for fear that it would hurt more, trying desperately to ignore the little stabs of pain from every time that he breathed in. he heard the footsteps move around him to his monitor, tapping gently on the screen, checking his vitals and making sure everything was going well. 

“What happened?” Barry was surprised by his own voice, cracked, raspy and desperate, to be completely honest, he sounded dead.

He swore that he physically felt Cisco tense beside him, pausing slightly, before resuming tapping on the board, trying to ignore the question he had just been asked.

A pause, a silent beat.

“The suit malfunctioned, we couldn’t hear you, you couldn’t hear us, we only know what happened through the recording.” his voice was stiff and angry, not at barry, but at himself. He knew that he should have fixed the comms after what happened in the last mission, but he just didn’t find the time, and now Barry, who healed so quickly and so well, was lying in a hospital bed completely broken and battered beyond compare.

Barry lay in silence next to Cisco, trying to cast his mind back to the last 24 hours, only to find that he couldn’t remember what had happened, only an ache extended across his brow and to the back of his head, throbbing against what he assumed were stitches.

“Cisco?” Cisco didn’t reply he was focusing on the screen, and whilst Barry couldn’t see him, he could tell he was avoiding something.

Barry strained to listen around the room, looking for a sound which he had grown accustomed to, yet was missing, something always clinking away, different jars and vials being put down, and a normal humming as heels clicked around the room, and it was gone.

“Cisco,” he said, trying to reach out, only to hiss in pain and draw his hand closer to him, “Cisco where’s Caitlin?”

A shaky breath, but silence followed.

The tapping continued rhythmically, filling the room with a stifling tension which could have been cut by a knife, however Barry felt that he was starting to feel like he could breath a little easier, possibly because of the healing which was granting him a quicker recovery, but the growing lump in his throat was not helping with his growing anxiety.

The overwhelming sense of dread returned to the pit of his stomach, trying to claw its way out from the confines of his belly, tearing its way up to his throat and settling there, stopping him from breathing.

Cisco moved away, walking towards the door of the labs, his footsteps reverberating around the room, before the sound of his shoes hitting the floor became too far away to hear.

Barry was left with his own thoughts, rocketing around his head left right and centre. He supposed that he had a concussion recently because he couldn’t remember the past 24 hours, plus the throbbing at the top of his head confirmed that he had probably been hit there at some point or another.

He tried to move his arm slightly, only to find an IV limiting him, keeping him in the same position, for fear that it would be pulled out.

He found his thoughts drifting to the last thing he remembered, some sort of dinner with him and Patty, celebrating their anniversary, there had been some sort of confusion with the booking so they had accidentally booked it for two months from then somehow, so instead of just waiting around for a couple of months, they had decided to go home and get a big belly burger and just stay in for the night.

He somewhat remembered some sort of a breeze in the apartment. He remembered Patty getting up to check where it was coming from. He remembered hearing her scream, oh god what had happened to her?

Footsteps sounded from far away, around the bend of the circular hallway, more than a pair. One, two, three. 

They slowly got closer, each step making Barry’s heart jump, until they were finally at the door of the lab, their voices in a low whisper, murmuring amongst each other. Barry didn’t have to see them to tell that their heads were bowed together, their eyes cast to the ground, trying to ignore the person in the bed.

The first distinct voice he heard brought relief crashing through his system, every fibre of his body physically relaxing. Patty was ok, thank god.

“Barry?” He whimpered in response. In any other situation, Patty would have given smile or even a little giggle, and probably poked his side, but instead, she rushed towards him, careful not to lean on him, or even press on him in any way, and gave him what could have been interpreted as a hug.

He felt her hands on the side of his cheeks, working to unravel the cotton wrap, encasing his eyes, trying her hardest to be gentle, before finally removing the material from his eyes.

Barry felt the light pierce through his lids, despite the fact that they were closed, and he almost felt himself hiss at the sudden intrusion of the dark peace which he had previously. He tried to turn his head but groaned at the aching returning to his head.

“Barry, don’t move you’ve got a concussion,” well that answered that question, “You’ve been beat up pretty bad, just relax hun.”

He gave a gentle hum in response, taking in a deep sigh and returning his head back to the original position.

He daren’t open his eyes, considering how even the light through his eyelids hurt too much, opening his eyes would just make it worse.

“Where’s Caitlin?” he felt everyone freeze, Patty’s hand on his bicep becoming completely static and stiff.

Someone next to him cleared their throat, Joe? Probably. He felt another hand alongside Patty’s and instantly felt calmer. Yup, Joe.

“Barry, here’s the thing-”

“Joe, where’s Caitlin.”

His voice was firmer than before, despite how the fear in his stomach was worse than before, was she alright? Was she turning to killer frost? Or worse…

“Barry, she’s dead.”

He felt himself freeze, his breath caught in his throat, his eyes stinging, not for physical pain this time. Blood rushed in his ears, completely overwhelming anything anyone was saying, muting any sort of comforting words they could have offered him. His senses became dulled and he suddenly couldn’t feel the two hands on his arm. Despite the tears in his eyes which suggested otherwise, he couldn’t feel anything. He had gone completely numb.

\\\\\

In a warehouse just outside Central City limits, Caitlin Snow roused herself from her uneasy rest. As she sat up, she felt her side twinge with pain. Blood had soaked through her lab coat just under her ribs, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was hers.

She brought herself to a somewhat standing position, one hand on the wound whilst the other leant back against the brick wall of the warehouse, the brick warm beneath her touch.

She looked down towards her feet to find herself barefoot, yet she didn’t feel cold.

Her hair fanned in front of her face, and she frustratedly pushed back the white strands of-

White? 

Caitlin grabbed a strand of hair with her hand, forgetting about the wound and smearing blood over the fringe, and allowing herself to see the difference in colour.

She looked back to the wall of the warehouse, where her hand had previously been, only to find it covered in ice crystals, climbing up the wall, before ripping her shirt open, and rather than seeing a gaping wound, Caitlin saw a small, rapidly healing cut that would have been deadly a few hours ago.

Her breaths got faster, and frost began to circle around her feet, spreading across the floor, and eventually crawling up the walls like a weed, clambering to keep going, and the faster Caitlin’s breathing got, the worse it became, before she finally fell to her knees, with tears sliding down her face, in the centre of a frozen, abandoned warehouse.

The onlooker watched with anticipation as the creature he believed was dead covered the walls of her shelter in ice. His breath came out visibly, mist in the cold air, before smiling to himself.

Oh god, this was going to be good.


End file.
